Redirect

Currently, the politically correct way to deal with a young child’s misbehavior is to redirect them to a more appropriate activity. Is there any causal relationship, I wonder, between that and the fact that as our kids get older they have a difficult time staying on task?

What are we teaching them? That when the activity is undesirable, to immediately break away and go in another direction. And so when they get older, and a task becomes unpleasant or challenging, is it any wonder that their first response is to break away? Isn’t that what we have been teaching them? And then we lament “Why can’t they stay focused?”

I don’t have any brilliant solutions to offer, and there may not actually be any relationship at all. I’m just making an observation.